


A Flicker of Light

by ramsitter



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24141139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramsitter/pseuds/ramsitter
Summary: An AU for tullyblue12's Zutara masterpiece, "Hopeless". An alternative "the gaang finds out who Rei's father is" scene brought about by one tiny sparky sneeze.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 332





	A Flicker of Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tullyblue12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullyblue12/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hopeless](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22242370) by [tullyblue12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullyblue12/pseuds/tullyblue12). 



> This is an AU for the wonderful fic “Hopeless” by tullyblue12 and won’t make much sense unless you’ve read that (and if you haven’t, you’re truly missing out on a good time). I’ve imagined this scene happening in Chapter 19 after Zuko and Hakoda talk, but before Azula attacks the Western Air Temple. An alternative “the Gaang finds out about Rei’s father” scene. Some dialog was stolen directly from Chapter 20. 
> 
> I don't own any of the Avatar characters, and I don't own Rei or the majority of this plot either. Thanks to tullyblue12 for permission to write this little fluffy piece.

Katara had worried the entire time Zuko and her father were gone, imagining the worst. She had noticed the calculating gaze he had been leveling at her anytime the entire group was together. The same look had migrated to Zuko a few days before and made Katara itch all over from the nerves.

She knew she would need to tell him eventually. Tell them all eventually. Zuko had never been a man to do things by half measures. Chasing the Avatar, leaving them in Ba Sing Se, even returning to them now—all of it was approached with amazingly headstrong stubbornness and determination. He might be able to respect Katara’s wishes to keep Rei a secret for now, but it wouldn’t last forever. If by some miracle they survived this war, he would want Rei to be a part of his life. The thought filled her with some of the warmth that she’d thought lost forever after Ba Sing Se, but also with dread. Because it meant she’d have to tell them all, eventually.

She hadn’t noticed her shoulders bunched up next to her ears until Zuko and Hakoda returned. She wanted to drag Zuko off to the side and interrogate him about every minute spent with her father, but that certainly wouldn’t help ease any of his suspicions. So she waited, stirring some of the rice for that night’s dinner.

Zuko disappeared off into the Temple, and Hakoda dropped the nets filled with their catch at Katara’s side. He sat beside her and silently began preparing the fish, though his eyes wandered from her to Rei instead of focusing on his task.

When the silence became too much to bear she broke it with what she hoped sounded like an innocent question. “How’d the fishing trip go?”

Hakoda made a soft sound and gestured at the food before them. “Well enough to feed all these mouths for the time being.” 

“It’s nice to have someone who actually knows how to hunt around.” She tried a smile that became authentic when Hakoda laughed.

“As proud as I am of Sokka, he has always struggled with the ‘sit patiently and wait’ part that goes along with the hunt.”

Katara felt that her snort would be an acceptable response, especially when she noticed Zuko slip back into the large chamber that had become the group’s shared space for meals and just hanging out. She couldn’t stop herself from running her eyes over him, even though she felt her father take her reaction in.

“Zuko, on the other hand, seems to be more of the patient sort.”

Katara couldn’t help the laugh. “I don’t think you’ve spent quite enough time with him, Dad. He spent a lot of the time I’ve known him snapping at everyone about nothing. He is a prince, after all.” But even to her own ears the words sounded weak. Zuko hadn’t been that angry boy in a long time. Even when Aang pushed him to what should have been the end of his rope, he would sigh heavily and look to the sky to beg strength. His fists would clench tightly and he might bark the next instructions, but he never raised his voice.

And he had never acted much like a prince, at least in Katara’s admittedly limited knowledge. He was hardworking and not afraid to get his hands dirty, didn’t mind sleeping on the ground or going a few days without a real bath. He didn’t complain about the quality of the food, or of the clothes, or really about anything except Aang’s insistence to call him Sifu Hotman. 

There were small things that spoke of good breeding that had almost gotten them in trouble in Ba Sing Se more than once. In public, his posture was nothing short of perfect. The first time Katara had seen him slouch in the chair in the kitchen of their apartment, she’d stared at him, unable to figure out what looked different. The only word to describe the way he ate and drank was _delicate_. Particularly compared to a lifetime of eating next to Sokka, who made an unholy amount of noise and talked with his mouth full and always ended up with some food remnant on his clothes. Zuko moved a little bit too gracefully, talked a little too elegantly, and still sometimes sneered down his nose when he was annoyed. Suni had once asked about his family, if they’d had money problems that resulted in Zuko ending up in the Lower Ring, that he didn’t seem like he really belonged.

She’d managed what she hoped was a decent enough lie, and then panicked to Zuko as soon as he got home. He’d sighed and run a hand through his hair. “I don’t know how to walk or stand or eat any other way.” When he saw her start to argue he added, “But I’ll try to learn.” He wasn’t very good at it, as most of those mannerisms had been trained into him from near infancy, but he did try.

Hakoda dragged her from her reflections with a thoughtful hum. “I guess he is a prince, isn’t he?” But was looking at Rei where he laid at Katara’s side.

Katara fought the urge to snatch her baby up and hide him. With his eyes closed, he looked even more like Zuko. “Well, a banished, disgraced prince.”

Hakoda’s smile was nearly a smirk. “I think that still counts.”

“Maybe so.” Desperate to remove herself from this conversation, which seemed to be dangerously toeing the line of acknowledging the truth, Katara pulled Rei into one arm and some of the now cooked fish into the other. “Dinner’s ready!”

Aang whooped and performed a funny bit of airbending that sent his voice whipping through the temple, relaying her message to the scattered occupants. The space quickly filled. Dinner was the same raucous affair as always, but after a while it was only Sokka, Suki, Toph, Aang, Zuko and her father left around the fire.

Aang was happily chattering about his training with Toph earlier in the day, who interjected with a dry correction from time to time. Sokka and Suki were leaned up against one another, occasionally whispering something in the other’s ear. Katara was playing with Rei’s hands to avoid looking at Zuko in his place across the fire.

There was a brief lull in the conversation. Zuko stood and made to collect the used dishes until he was distracted by the way Katara cooed at Rei and tickled his sides slightly, causing him to giggle delightedly. It drew the attention of the rest of circle. Several things happened nearly simultaneously after that.

Rei sneezed. If everyone hadn’t already been looking at him, they probably wouldn’t have noticed the tiny sparks that came shooting out of his mouth.

Sokka’s mouth dropped open to an extent that would have been funny to Katara under any other circumstance. Everyone else froze.

Zuko made a sound that Katara had never heard before in her entire life. Recovering from the initial shock, she looked to where he had been standing but he was no longer on his feet. He was half kneeling on the ground, one knee pressed into the cool temple floor, one arm supporting the other half of his weight. He dropped the other knee to the ground and crawled— _crawled_ —toward Katara. When he was close enough, he reached for Rei, and Katara couldn’t have denied him anything at that moment.

Zuko pulled Rei into his arms, and sank all the way to the ground, curling his entire body around his son. 

Distantly, Katara heard Sokka say her name. Suki and Hakoda both shushed him instantly. All of her attention was on Zuko and Rei, only a foot away from her. Zuko was still curled forward, his head bent in a way that mixed his and Rei’s hair together. She could hear him whispering, but not any of the words. Around the words, he was crying.

Suddenly, he sat back up and held Rei above his head at arms length. Despite the tears still streaming down his face, he beamed. “Of course you’re a prodigy, considering your mother and all.”

Through the haze of shock and joy and pride, Katara wondered if he considered the 'and all' part of his statement to include the generations of superior Fire Nation Royal Family breeding he'd passed down to Rei. The absurdity of the entire situation—of her entire damn life—made her brave enough to ignore the chaos beginning to swirl around them. For at least a bit longer, this moment was just for them, for their family. “When did Azula…?” She let the question hang, knowing he’d understand.

Zuko pulled Rei close against his chest, his lips brushing the very top of Rei’s head as he mumbled something that seemed to include ‘so proud’ before he turned the full power of his smile on Katara. The goofy happiness all over his face rearranged itself into his haughtiest, most princely expression. “Just over a year.” The goofy happiness returned as he looked back at Rei and softly asked, “Who’s going to be the best firebender?”

“Uhm, Katara,” Aang tried before being shushed even more violently than Sokka had been. 

Katara ignored them all. She found that she’d shifted closer to Zuko. She desperately wanted to tug Rei into her arms and praise him, but she couldn’t take him from Zuko. Not so soon after he’d crawled to Rei, his expression pure joy. She settled for leaning against his shoulder, and reaching up to brush Rei’s hair softly.

Laughter began to bubble up from her chest. Apparently her brain was still working in the background, and it had hit maximum capacity. Slowly, awareness of her surroundings was returning. She could sense the stares of the rest of the group, but couldn’t bring herself to look at them yet. After the first giggle escaped she dropped her head to Zuko’s shoulder. “Oh Spirits.” Another giggle. “He always woke up first thing in the morning. Always.”

She lifted her head to look at Rei more closely, and pressed the back of the hand to his little forehead, his cheeks. “And I always thought he had a fever.” For the first time, her eyes flickered around the circle, but she didn’t really see anything that wasn’t her son or Zuko. “And you kept saying I was worrying over nothing, that he felt fine.” Her hands found her hair in a brief moment of frustration. “But he was warm! You just couldn’t tell because so are you!”

Zuko huffed a small laugh. 

“Oh, we’re idiots. Zuko! We’re idiots. Of course he’s a firebender.” The agitation had fully set in and she leapt to her feet and paced in a small circle before finally meeting the eyes of everyone around her. Toph was smirking like she’d known all along, which, honestly, maybe she had. Sokka’s mouth hadn’t fully closed. Suki was smiling softly at Zuko, who still held Rei tightly even as he started to squirm from all the attention. Hakoda, shockingly, didn’t look angry or surprised. He looked proud, and it was almost enough to make Katara pause in her pacing. Almost. Aang was looking at his hands, clasped tightly in his lap.

Katara stopped and heaved a huge breath. She was close enough that Zuko leaned gently against her leg for a second, offering support. “When we were separated, I ran into Zuko after…after some troubles with an Earth Kingdom gang. We were both alone and heading for Ba Sing Se and it’s better to have someone to watch your back so we agreed to go together. But when we got to the city it was just easier to stay together, an easier cover story. We were married—” Suki squealed with delight, which earned her a betrayed look from Sokka. Katara hurried to clarify. “Not actually, we used fake names and fake papers. But…one thing led to another and…”

She didn’t really know how to finish, so simply waved her arms at Zuko and Rei. The silence was brief but painful. Finally Suki came to the rescue. “I had my suspicions, honestly.”

Sokka gasped and slid away from his girlfriend to stare at her fully. “And you never said anything to me about these suspicions!”

Suki shrugged lightly. “Well I assumed you would be smart enough to figure it out on your own. Rei looks just like Zuko.”

Sokka’s head tilted to the side as he took them in. “Huh. I guess I see it.” His expression slid in to shock. “My _sister_ is your Ba Sing Se girl!” He looked a little queasy, but got it under control. “Dad—”

Katara’s heart clenched. She had only just gotten her father back, had lost him so many times before. She couldn’t bear to do it again, because of this. Hakoda held up a hand to stop the rest of Sokka’s comment. “I already knew.”

Katara looked down to stare at Zuko. She would never had expected him to be the one to spill, especially not to her father. He flinched at her attention and held up a hand to show his innocence. “He asked me point blank. I couldn’t lie right to his face.”

“I wish you hadn’t lied, Katara, but I understand why you felt like you had to. I love you and I trust you and if this was right—if he was right—then you have my support.”

Katara stopped breathing. She hadn’t fully realized just how scared she was about her father’s response until she had it. She flung herself into his arms, tears springing to her eyes. She may have a child of her own, but she was still young, still needed him. “I love you too Dad.” She squeezed him even tighter. “Thank you.”

“How could you leave them.” The words were a question, but the tone and delivery weren’t. Aang finally lifted his gaze to stare at Zuko. His eyes were rimmed with red, but he wasn’t crying. “How could you just leave them behind?”

There was something dangerous in Aang’s face that had Katara crossing back to Zuko’s side, positioning herself nearly between Rei and Aang. “Aang—” she tried.

“No, Katara.” He didn’t so much as look at her. “We looked for her for weeks. Months. We never stopped looking for her when we lost her. How could you chose to leave her behind and then come back here and pretend to care.” Aang had rose to his feet, and Katara realized again that he’d gotten so much taller than the boy she remembered.

As much as she didn’t like the escalating tension, Katara had to admit she wanted to hear the answer.

Zuko stood too, passing Rei off to her and moving them both behind him. “Azula knew we were in the city. She’s always two steps ahead. The only thing I cared about that day was to get Katara and Rei to safety, to keep them away from her. You know what she’s like and it—it wouldn’t have been good.” Zuko swallowed some of the anger. “They weren’t in our apartment.” Aang flinched at the casual reference to the shared life they’d had. “I had to buy them time to get out, to get away. All she cared about was me. So I went to find her.”

Katara reached forward to gently brush a hand against Zuko’s back. This wasn’t the way she pictured getting the explanation from him, wished it was just the two of them. But it was obvious he was hurting and she had no power left not to comfort him.

“Then why leave with her,” Aang demanded, though some of the anger was gone. “Why fight us? Your uncle?”

It was Zuko’s turn to flinch. “Because she offered me the one thing she knew I would agree to. Revoked my banishment. I could have slowed things down from the inside, I could have helped my people.” His voice broke. “I could have given Rei my title.” Then he laughed, a harsh, dangerous thing that made Katara’s heart break. “That’s what I thought anyway. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but my family isn’t exactly the best to me. I just hadn’t realized what it could—should—be like, a family. And it’d been so long since I’d been home, I’d forgotten what they were like.”

He reached behind him for Katara’s hand and squeezed it gently, turning to look at her. “But when I went back I realized that they weren’t my family anymore. And that I’d made the biggest mistake of my life, leaving my actual family behind.”

Katara was crying again. The arm not holding Rei flung itself around Zuko, and he pulled her into his chest, careful not to squish their son. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I will never stop being sorry.”

She shook her head, but left it buried against him. She’d missed him so much, the way he held her like she was the only solid thing left in the world. “You’re forgiven.”

He released a shaky breath and pressed a kiss into her hair. “I love you.” She breathed to words back, and wriggled out of his grasp to look at Aang, who had deflated and looked close to tears. She tried to step towards him, but he took two steps backwards.

“I’m going to need some time.” He looked away, toward the entrance to the temple.

“Can we talk tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, yeah. Yeah. Goodnight everyone.” He flung himself across the courtyard in a single gust of bending and disappeared. The silence following his departure lingered, everyone feeling like they needed to catch their breath.

“Well,” Toph drawled, stretching her legs out and wiggling her toes. “That was the most entertaining thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Toph,” Katara scoffed.

She cackled. “It’s been so much fun listening to you two freak out anytime you’re in the same room. Frankly I’m surprised it took you this long to crack and tell us.”

Katara found she couldn’t think of a reply, and instead settled herself next to Zuko. He shuffled to pull her between his legs, wrapping an arm around her to line up an arm with the one holding Rei to her. Sokka made a gagging noise. “Oh this is going to be awful.”

Zuko laughed and held Katara a little tighter. They weren’t able to escape a few questions, but eventually were able to escape to the safety of Katara’s room. Rei was exhausted from his accidental firebending and the subsequent high emotions around him, and was sound asleep by the time Katara laid him in the cradle. 

While she changed, Zuko stood over him, brushing a finger through his hair gently. “What did you say to him, before?”

A flush grew up the back of Zuko’s neck and he smiled at her, allowing himself to be pulled into her bed. “Just that I loved him and was so proud of him. And that I promised to teach him everything I know and when he’s better than me I’ll find him a better teacher.” He swallowed and closed his eyes. “That I would never, ever hurt him. Especially not with fire. That I hope to be able to see how good of a Fire Lord we raise him to be.”

Katara’s breath caught. It was a topic they’d never had the option to discuss. It was too much for her to comprehend after the day she had, and so she just whispered “you will.” Tomorrow, they could talk about titles and heirs and the future of the Fire Nation. Tomorrow they could figure out how to deal with the new dynamic that would inevitably develop in the group. Tomorrow they could deal with the Avatar.

Tonight, Katara raised a hand to Zuko’s scarred cheek and pulled him towards her. The kiss was sweet and lazy, and long. She felt warm all the way down to her toes. When they finally pulled apart, she smiled against his lips. “Our son’s a firebender.”

Zuko beamed the same goofy smile as before. “Our son’s a firebender.”

The next morning, Azula’s airships disrupted all of Katara’s plans. But they got out, with her family at her side. Everything would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to tullyblue12 for the blessing to write this fluffy idea that I actually dreamed about because Hopeless is just that good. I hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
